Greenhouse gases vote delayed by spectator

FRANKFORT — A House panel was stopped from taking a vote Thursday on a measure dealing with greenhouse gases when an unidentified man arose from the audience and started reading a statement against it.

"You are not going to do that," House Natural Resources Chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence, said as a Kentucky State Police trooper escorted the man out of the room.

The committee was poised to vote late in its meeting on a Gooch-sponsored resolution that urges Congress to postpone federal efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired plants.

The disturbance did not allow Gooch time to call a vote on the measure. He later said he will call a vote on it at next week's meeting.

The trooper later said the unidentified man "was ejected" but not arrested.

House Resolution 132 urges Congress to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide emissions until the federal government "adopts a balanced approach to address climate and energy supply issues without crippling the economy."

Gooch said the measure is an attempt "to fight back" against reports that greenhouse gases are contributing to global warming. He noted that the media have dubbed him "a global warming skeptic."

He said the booming population worldwide "probably has upset the balance" of the planet, "and we probably should mitigate that."

But "now is not the time to be continuing this hysteria of imminent doom of our planet because of man-made global warming," Gooch said.